Mmmm, Good!

Alex helped himself to a potato chip during a family get together at Christmas. This is not his usual diet!!

I just peeled some hard boiled eggs and shared them with the birds. They love eggs – especially scrambled. In fact they love most human food and they can have almost anything we eat in small quantities (avoid giving them chocolate, avocados or liquor). I love to watch how excited they get about it. Alex's eyes will pinpoint and he makes comments like "Mmmm, good" and then "Want some?” I never cease to get a kick out of that.

It also amazes me that they like chicken – that just seems so wrong!! The weird thing is that they didn’t like it when they were babies, but they all seem to acquire a taste for it after a year or two. All except Classy, that is. He’s a funny little guy. The only people food that he will eat is scrambled eggs, popcorn, and Corn Chex. He’s not a big veggie and fruit eater either, but he still gets them every day because every so often he will actually eat a bean or pea or something that’s good for him.

We feed the birds a combination of seeds, Roudybush pellets and Zoopreem. Some think that birds should only get the formulated food, but I think they need some seed, and they really enjoy it. They also get fruit and veggies daily, and some kind of nut – unsalted peanuts, pistachios, almonds, walnuts or pecans. They also get snacks like Ritz crackers or oyster crackers, cheerios and other unsweetened cereals – I think we spend more on their food than we do on ours.

The experts say not to let the birds have salt. I followed that rule until I saw a show about parrots in the wild. It showed a huge flock of African greys landing on the marshy ground where elephants had walked just to get the salt. Besides, how can you refuse a bird who asks over and over for something? Alex will not stop saying “Want a cracker?” or “Cracker?” until he is promised that he can have one.

Emelio will gladly give up a place on the counter – which is his favorite spot – when he sees me take the crackers out of the cupboard. He insists that he go back to his cage immediately. Then begins the cracker ritual: he steps down onto his perch, takes the cracker, puts one foot on his water bowl and drops it in, then steps back to the perch, puts his head down and says “Woo”. This is done each time without fail. He eats the cracker from his water bowl, then sticks his beak in the water and makes circular motions with his head so he can get the bits that have sunk to the bottom.

Alex prefers to just dunk his in the water. Gideon likes his broken in half so he can clutch it in his foot and nibble away at it. Spike does the same. Peeper and Rani just eat it right out of their bowls. Classy, on the other hand gets his Corn Chex. He throws crackers to the bottom of his cage. Ah well, to each his own . . .

Cathy